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Penguins roster news on Letang, Despres, & Bortuzzo

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Defenseman Robert Bortuzzo has been re-assigned to Wilkes Barre/Scranton on a conditioning assignment. Bortuzzo still counts on the 23-man roster. He has been a healthy scratch for 13 straight games and last played Feb 28th. The Penguins did the same thing last season with Dustin Jeffrey early in the year.

*Kris Letang has been placed on IR and the Penguins have recalled Simon Despres.

(Updated 1:45 pm)

*Kris Letang is out 7 to 10 days with what head coach Dan Bylsma is calling a new injury.

*Marc Andre Fleury is still being evaluated but hasn’t been ruled out to backup tomorrow night. His injury is not believed to be serious.

Trade Buzz: Thursday’s 1-for-1 trade of young underperforming players saw the Minnesota Wild acquire center Victor Rask from the Carolina Hurricanes for left winger Nino Niederreiter. Carolina did an excellent job of being able to get out of the Rask contract, who has three years remaining with a $4 million cap hit. Rask has 1 goal, 5 assists on the season, mirrored in a 22-game goal drought. The logic here for Minnesota is taking the chance on a playmaking center who can help fill a top-9 spot longer term if the Wild move on from Eric Staal. Minnesota is also playing the card that a change of scenery will benefit the 24-year old who posted a career-high 21 goals, 48 points in 2015-2016.

Niederreiter’s trade value was stunted because of his contract, where he has three years left on his deal with a $5.25 million cap hit. Niederreiter is a player who is extremely hard to play against, drives possession well, and has three 20 goal seasons over his last four full seasons. Injuries (18 goals in 63 games) kept him from a 4th straight 20-goal season in 17-18. The Niederreiter acquisition also sets up as great insurance for the Hurricanes if they can’t resign Micheal Ferland. In the short-term, Carolina’s center situation is a mess with Jordan Staal sidelined with a concussion, but they’re getting the better player who fits the identity they’re trying to establish upfront, especially on the wings where they’ve identified the need for Patric Hornqvist type players.